AutumnSun's Fresca

AutumnSun's Fresca, daughter of 12x champion Red Granites Mr Ben Franklin (son of Snowmass Matrix Rose and half brother to many 10x Judges Choice Red Granites Val d LSere) gathered her first place and Color Champion wins at her first show. She went on to garner judges' favor for her long staple, fineness & uniformity, and crimp uniformity throughout her many shows. From those showings, she brought home a Color or Reserve Color Champion ribbon / banner 3x! No small thing with how competitive fawn classes are nowadays.

Her 2020 cria was a fawn girl by an outside male but was a 'failure to thrive' loss, never standing on her own or trying to nurse and was lost the same day. Fresca was then bred to our multiple champion and sire of champions, Dark Secret for her 2021 cria, but did not successfully graft to the TB male she produced. We are currently bottle feeding him and will breed her again to evaluate if this rejection was due to some environmental reason, as we were not present when she birthed him. He on the smaller side but was strong willed and an active sucker, which is good as we don't tube/IV our crias since we feel that Mother Nature often knows best. Until we could prove she will mother a cria, she was off our sales list as a breeding dam as we like to ensure we understand the viability of our breedstock before any potential sale.

Well, we are glad we gave her another try. Not only is she an excellent mom to her 2022 LF girl by our Major General, the little girl is nice looking and a sweetheart to boon. Always an easy keeper, we know now that Aika is a really "hands off" girl -- as in she doesn't want you anywhere near her or the cria after it is born. She will eye you suspiciously and refuse to nurse if she can even see you. With a little covert spying were able to witness her doting care, with her clucking and nuzzling and even making the cria get up to nurse. To soothe ourselves, we left her with a buddy and their crias in a pen to ensure close contact, but was able to let them out in only a few days, the girl going on to grow well due to a solid mothering bond.

We now feel comfortable allowing Fresca to be sold, but may want to keep the girl as replacement since Fresca has always had lovely fleece.